Over a period of a few weeks in September and October, a team of archaeologists unearthed two dozen bronze statues of human figures, more than 2,000 years old and perfectly preserved in the hot mud and waters of an ancient, sacred pool.The Etruscans lived and thrived for 500 years in what today is central Italy — the regions of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio — before the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BCE, after the last Etruscan king who had ruled Rome was overthrown.Archaeologist Emanuele Mariotti, the fieldwork manager who oversees the excavation site, says finding so many objects in their original site provides a unique historical context.Mariotti and his colleagues believe that in antiquity, there probably was a blacksmith on site, where people seeking cures from the gods could have their votive offerings forged in bronze.And researchers found bronze depictions of internal organs — what Mariotti says amount to unique early versions of X-rays: "Something like X-ray but in bronze, a picture of the [insides of the] body in bronze.""